Countdown to Opening Day: #16 Oakland Athletics

By Andrew Marcus
Sportswriter for Lansdale Reporter

Follow me on Twitter @amarcus515

#16: Oakland A's: No names, no problem

PROJECTED LINEUP
CF Coco Crisp
SS Jed Lowrie
3B Josh Donaldson
LF Yoenis Cespedes
RF Josh Reddick
DH Brandon Moss
C Derek Norris
1B Daric Barton
2B Alberto Callaspo

PROJECTED ROTATION
Jarrod Parker
AJ Griffin
Scott Kazmir
Sonny Gray
Tom Milone

PROJECTED BULLPEN

Closer: Jim Johnson

Set-up: Luke Grergerson

Top Prospect: Addison Russell (SS)

I guess I am going to keep betting against Billy Beane just to be proven wrong. I mean I would no longer be shocked if they won the division, but all I can really go on is what I see on paper right now and my gut feeling and I just cannot pick the A's to win anything.

Josh Donaldson

Jed Lowrie and Josh Donaldson are no middle-of-the-order hitters in my mind and the rotation seems like it could fall apart at any second. Daric Barton should not even be on a major league roster, I don't even care how well he can pick it at first base. Though somehow the last two seasons Oakland has pushed all the right buttons.
If that's the case getting rid of Grant Balfour and Brett Anderson this off-season were the right choices and signing Jim Johnson and Scott Kazmir will pay off. I know the A's will not be unwatchable, but with less offense than Texas, less pitching than Seattle, and a lot less star power than the Angels I am just not going to pick Oakland to win anything. Go ahead, prove me wrong. I can't wait to see Brad Pitt in Moneyball 2.

Jarrod Parker

THEY CALL ME MR. SUNSHINE - I do love how Billy Beane and the Oakland organization operate when it comes to starting pitchers. They use cheap, talented young pitchers and throw the idea of innings limits and pitch counts out the window. They use them when their velocity is at its highest and once the innings start to build up, they trade them for younger pieces they can use in the upcoming years. It is a brilliant circle.

REAL TALK - The one down fall to staying cheap and young is what happens every year they do surprise
and make the playoffs. They just do not have enough experience to compete with some of the other teams that are ready to win a World Series. The AL West is weak as it has been in a while and they could make it three straight division crowns, but I am not a big enough believer to pick that.

Breakout: Sonny Gray (RHP)

Bust: Scott Kazmir (LHP)

Fantasy Baseball Sleeper: Coco Crisp (OF) 

LAST YEAR'S RECORD: 96-66 (1st in AL West)

PROJECTED 2013 FINISH: 84-78 (2nd in AL West)

**Check back tomorrow for the Arizona Diamondbacks*